God Has Approved His Message

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” - 1 Corinthians 1:18-24
 
Theologians love to debate.  That’s not uncommon with humankind, really.  We will debate most anything. Who is the best candidate for an office?  Who is the best football team?  Which teams belong in the NCAA tournament? Debate is common.  Entire cable channels make millions of dollars debating the things we all love to hear.  Nobody doubts that.  However, sometimes the same approach we have to sports or politics makes its way into theological debates.  We easily move from arguing whether Michael Jordan or LeBron James is the best ever to defending some technical theological point that is sure to cause strife – and often when no Biblical writer splits the hairs we’d like to split.  We need to be cautious when we do so. 
 
Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth makes some clear theological points in the passage before us that simply cannot be “disproven” by any theory or hair splitting.  In this church where division existed and pandemonium seemed to rule, Paul lays a foundation for unity.  This unity is to be founded on one message – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul here refers to this message as “the word of the cross.”  This Gospel is “folly” to the lost of the world.  That is easily seen when we share the Gospel with those around us.  Yet, we’ve been sent out with just such a message.  Many times as we reach out with the Gospel, we get snide remarks such as “Don’t start that religion mess” or “Hey – don’t ruin a good friendship telling me I’m going to Hell”.  The natural man (or men) simply couldn’t care less about spiritual things – “because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).  Nonetheless, the Gospel is God’s chosen means to reach His people.  This passage makes that crystal clear. 
 
Paul uses a phrase to describe the Gospel here that is also used elsewhere – “the power of God” (Romans 1:16).  In both 1 Corinthians 1:18 and Romans 1:16, Paul uses the Greek word from which we get the word “dynamite”.  The Gospel certainly packs a big punch.  Some have suggested that a better example of an English equivalent would be the word “dynamic” which means “a force that stimulates change”.  Honestly, I’ll take either.  Certainly dynamite is a powerful force that stimulates change.  However, it often leaves things in disorder.  Not so with the Gospel.  In fact, God uses it powerfully to bring a life of sin…a life full of chaos and disorder…into a life of Spirit-filled “self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). 
 
The question often debated by theologians is exactly what place the Gospel has in regeneration.  Arminians and Calvinists have long debated whether it was the cause of the new birth or the effect (that is, faith in it) of the new birth.  Among this widespread argument, many various other strains of these two positions have arisen which, admittedly, seek clarity – but often create more confusion.  An erroneous statement cannot ever clarify truth.  And honestly, the Bible seems crystal clear on this subject. 
 
First of all, you’ll notice in our text passage that God is the Author of salvation.  God saves…God calls…the Gospel is God’s power.  As long as God isn’t empowering the preaching of the cross, the Gospel will fall on deaf ears.  Theologians call this “Total Depravity”.  That’s the very point Paul is making here.  One can have as many degrees as a thermometer – but if God doesn’t “call”, he will never believe.  The Gospel will remain “folly”.  However, the fact that we have many believers in our world today proves that God does sometimes call.  And, our text passage proves that He calls in a certain way – through the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ.   Understand, God could have saved men any way He chose to.  But, “…it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”  God would never work in a way other than that which He is pleased to do.  And, He is sovereign and able to bring about His will. 
 
So, God saves – He alone is the “founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).  More that than, God extends His saving power through the Gospel because it is His chosen means to reach men.  He is pleased to make people alive through the word of Christ.  In writing to the saints at Rome, Paul made the argument that faith comes through the Gospel by a number of rhetorical questions.  “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-16).  Paul’s point is clear – one cannot call on Jesus if he hasn’t believed in Him.  One cannot believe on Jesus if he hasn’t heard of Him.  One cannot hear of Him unless God providentially sends the Gospel his way.  Then, Paul draws his conclusion – “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  Now, Paul has spent Romans 9-10 explaining God’s sovereign role in saving men.  That is not lost in this passage.  Paul is merely explaining that God’s gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) comes through the Gospel message – “the word of Christ”. 
 
The understanding that God has chosen the Gospel as the means through which He saves is a common Biblical truth.  For instance, Jesus, in His high priestly prayer, said, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word” (John 17:20).  Jesus certainly understood the sovereignty of God in salvation (John 6:37, 44).  However, He, in His infinite wisdom, saw no need to split hairs.  Many would (and have) believe through the word of the disciples He had called during His personal ministry. 
 
At the Jerusalem Council, Peter “stood up and said to them, ‘Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe’” (Acts 15:7).  Peter certainly understood God’s sovereignty in the salvation of sinners.  I mean, it was Peter that wrote (by the Holy Spirit’s guidance), “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again…” (1 Peter 1:3a).  Yet, here in Acts 15, he saw no need to split theological hairs.  He simply said that the Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel from him and believe.  He later writes in 1 Peter 1:23, “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”  And lest one misunderstand, he defines what he means by the “word of God” a few verses later – “And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:25).  The Bible is in harmony on this (and every) subject.  God has chosen to save sinners by the message of the cross. 
 
Many other verses touch this subject.  Paul explained to the saints at Thessalonica, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5).  God had chosen them.  However, He had called them by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel.  Paul wrote to them again and said, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).  God saved these saints – that is undeniable.  How did He choose to call them? – “through our gospel”.  That’s rather clear.  James agrees when he writes, “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18).
 
Biblical discussion and even debate can be and often is beneficial.  “Iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).  However, we need to be cautious when we discuss Scripture that our own personal desire to be different…to be disagreeable…isn’t what is driving us.  We don’t need to purposely make divisive statements and unnecessarily split hairs on subjects that the Biblical writers (inspired by the Holy Spirit) didn’t split.  Furthermore, we need to make for certain that we aren’t actually denying clear Scripture when we seek to defend such a position.  The Bible is clear on these two things – God is the One doing the saving and He has chosen to birth people into the family of God through the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we ever (unnecessarily) pit these two truths against one another, we have missed the point of Scripture altogether and cause the Scripture to be in disagreement.  Furthermore, we become the cause of unnecessary division among God’s people.